Mamman Shata: 20 years after

Last Tuesday, fans of the late Hausa music icon, Alhaji Mamman Shata, who died at 77 on June 18, 1999, gathered in Katsina for a memorial ceremony in his honour. At the event was Dr Aliyu Ibrahim Kankara who is one of the Shata’s biographers. He spoke to Weekend Magazine about the life and times of the star.

Weekend Magazine: How did Shata distinguish himself among other musicians?

Dr Aliyu Ibrahim Kankara: From the facts I have gathered, Shata was quite different from other Hausa musicians. His uniqueness was the root of the enmity between him and other musicians. His generosity was one of the qualities that also made him entirely different from all his mates.  It is a well-known fact that most of the musicians in Hausaland, only expect to collect prizes from people, but not to give out what they have, to anybody. But not in the case of Shata, because many times when he performed and got money, he didn’t take whatever he got, to his house. He made sure that he gave them out to people and other musicians who also performed in the show. Even the late Emir of Daura Bashar, Shata offered him gifts, especially during Gani Sallah celebration.

Secondly, some people believed that he was such a stubborn man. But that his stubbornness wasn’t even one tenth of what his father’s. His father was a stubborn hunter who at a time while sitting at home could call an animal to come all the way from bush to visit him. He would have fun with them and ask them to go back into the bush again.

Shata was naturally a brave man, whom Allah blessed. There were many rare things that he did and came out safely from, which nobody could dare. “For example, someone listening to his songs or any of his interviews, would naturally not like to change the station. While hunting, he hunted for many days without food and never complained of hunger. Shata was the only man who could also point fingers at prominent men and get away with it.

WM: Did Shata ever turndown a prize given to him?

Kankara: Muddaha Danraka once gave him a brand-new car, which he refused because fuel money was not included. The car was taken back to Zaria. Danraka then, had to give him a huge sum of money before he later accepted the gift.  There was also a time when Mariya Dankabo gave him a car and he jokingly told her that he did not appreciate her gesture.

There was also a special gift, which he described as the gift that he will never forget in his life. It was when he was given a wife by the then District Head of Falgore, Alhaji Sani.

Shata was so close to Alhaji Bello who was Alhaji Sani’s father, and when he died Shata and Alhaji Sani became friends. One day Shata and Alhaji Sani were conversing at Gozaki. Shata asked Alhaji Sani what he thought he could do to him that would make their relationship closer. He replied that he would give him his daughter in marriage. Shata did not take it serious then, until when he was invited for the wedding at Sani’s palace. He honoured and attended it. After the wedding prayer, Shata was summoned and advised to treat his wife with maturity because she was still very young. It was then he realised that the wedding he was attending was actually his, and that special gift of his wife, Dije, was what he said he would never forget in his life.

WM: During the life time of Shata and even after he died many believed Shata could not be attacked spiritually. Is that true?

Kankara: In some instances, he was attacked. “There was an incident in which one rich man conspired with one of the Shata’s maids, Dangaude, who went and stole Shata’s rataye, a protective charm. He took it to the rich man who later burnt it to ashes, but that same day Dangaude died and the rich man also lost his sight. There was also another incident where Dodo Karofi who was also a musician during the reign of Asauwara songs. He conspired with somebody who followed Shata for six months trying to just have his footprints and some hairs from Shata’s forehead. At last, he got it, and Shata was sick for a whole year. It was Wadayi who helped him and gave him some medicine for recovery. From that time till the end of his life, he had never had such attack again.

Shata could remould a single song into many. For instance, with ‘Bakandamiya,’ he reshaped and remoulded it into different pieces, by adding verses and stanzas. It was also well composed with prayers that Allah answered before his death, when he met Dankabo. There were also some evidences that before he died, he regretted singing some of his songs like ‘Gagarabadau,’ ‘Hassan na Usaini’ and ‘Muna ji Muna gani.’